Thursday, June 02, 2016

It looks like even Britain's elite has had enough of rendition, with a senior Tory MP demanding answers:

A senior Conservative MP has described the continuing cover-up of Britain’s complicity in the kidnapping and torture of detainees in the “war on terror” – and of who authorised it – as a shocking scandal that must be resolved without further delay.

Andrew Tyrie, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition, made clear that an answer to the key question – who knew about the secret operations – was getting closer.

[...]

Tyrie told the Guardian: “It is a scandal and shocking that, after nearly a decade of demanding answers, the public still don’t know the scope and limits of the UK’s complicity in kidnap and torture. Public confidence in the security services has been eroded as a consequence. We need them. It is now essential that the prime minister ensures that the ISC [parliament’s intelligence and security committee] are able to get to the bottom of this, and without delay. Only by doing so can a line be drawn under this sorry episode.”

But answers aren't enough - there must also be justice. The only way the UK can "draw a line under" (as the establishment loves to say) rendition is when everyone involved has been sacked and prosecuted. And that means not just the spies who selected targets, put them on planes, and asked them question in foreign torture chambers - but the Ministers who officially authorised those actions. The scandal will only end when Jack Straw and Tony Blair are in jail, where they belong.